Pocket construction for garment



8, 1967 R. k. s-ruLTs 3,334,357

POCKET CONSTRUCTION FOR GARMENT Filed Sept. 8, 1965 &

4 6 INVENTOR L A? RU TH 1r. 572/175 30 3 BY gg p44 %%%Y United StatesPatent 3,334,357 POCKET CONSTRUCTION FOR GARMENT Ruth K. Stults, 37Hillside Ave., Short Hills, NJ. 07078 Filed Sept. 8, 1965, Ser. No.485,800 4 Claims. (Cl. 2-247) provide a pocket construction which liesflat against the outer surface of the garment when not in use but whichwill expand to receive objects of relatively large size compared withthe size of the pocket. Another object is to provide a collapsiblepocket construction which is versatile in that it is adaptable for manydifferent applications and conditions of use, and which is simple inconstruction, easily applied to the garment and attractive. These andother objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out below.

Many different types of pockets have been used or proposed for use upongolfing attire. Such pockets may be adapted to hold score cards,pencils, tees, ball markers, golf balls and miscellaneous other objects.Generally, such pockets are relatively largeand bulky, and they may bequite unsightly even when empty. Also, many such pockets are extremelycomplicated in construction so that they are expensive and difiicult toinstall, and it may even be difficult to use them. The tendency forgolfers to be trimmer and to be neatly attired has caused people toavoid the use of garments having complicated and unsightly pockets.However, prior to the present invention no fully satisfactory pocketconstruction has been proposed for use upon golfers attire. It is anobject of the present invention to avoid the objectionable features ofthe prior pockets of the above character and to provide a fullysatisfactory pocket construction.

In the illustrative embodiment of the present invention, a pocket isprovided upon the skirt for a lady golfer positioned slightly below thewaist and preferably on the upper portion of the right hip. When thepocket is empty, it automatically pulls itself against the wearer so asto be decorative and attractive. The pocket may be used for carrying ascore card or small objects and it will still tend to hold itself in itscollapsed rest position, so as to hug the objects which it contains. Thepocket expands and opens readily from the top to the bottom so thatobjects within it are readily removed. Yet even one or two golf balls inthe bottom of the pocket will not have the tendency to fall out as withmany prior similar pockets. The pocket of the present invention is alsoadaptable with respect to size and proportions to be attached todifferent garments and to be constructed of different types of material.Objects within the pocket are readily accepted by the pocket, and yet isnot misshapen even when the pocket is fairly well filled with variousobjects.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the rear of a ladies skirt which isequipped with a pocket constituting an embodiment of the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of the pocket of FIG- URE 1;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged sectional view on the line 3-3 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the manner in whichthe pocket opens; and,

FIGURE 5 is a plan view of a piece of fabric from which the pocket ofFIGURES 1 to 4 is formed.

Referring to FIGURE 1 of the drawings, a ladies skirt 4 having a pocket6 attached to the outside surface of the skirt directly beneath thewaistband and relatively high up in the rear on the right hip of thewearer. Skirt 4 is made of a fabric or textile, such as a wool orsynthetic fiber flannel or a tweed material. Pocket 6 is preferably ofthe same material as skirt 4 and is formed of a single piece of thefabric without the addition of other component or materials, except forthe thread used for sewing and possibly an inner layer of the same orother fabric forming a lining.

The pocket of FIGURES 1 to 4 is formed of a single piece 8 of fabricshown in plan view in FIGURE 5. In forming the pocket the bottom edge 10is folded inwardly along afold line to form the bottom edge 12, and thetop edge 14 is folded inwardly along a fold line to form the top edge16. Similarly, the side edges 18 and 20 are folded inwardly alongparallel fold lines to form folds 22 and 24, respectively. As shown bestin FIGURE 2, each of the side edges is then folded into anaccordion-type pleat 26, there being at the left (FIGURE 5) an innerfold 28 and a reverse fold 30. Similarly, at the right there are innerfolds 32 and reverse fold 34.- However, prior to making the reversefolds 30 and 34, fold 28 is stitched by a single line of stitches 36.This line of stitches 36 being represented in FIGURE 5 by broken linesalong the opposite sides of fold 28. Similarly, fold 32 is stitched by aline of stitches 38, which is also represented in FIG- URE 5 by brokenlines. The sides of the pocket are then attached to the skirt alongfolds 22 and 24, respectively, by lines of stitches 40 and 42 which arerepresented by broken lines in FIGURE 5. Folds 30 and 34 are then formedso that the pocket is complete, with an outer pocket wall 44 formedbetween the stitched side folds 28 and 32, and the top edge 16 andbottom edge 12.

The bottom of the pocket is then attached to the skirt by a line ofstitches 46 which is represented by a pair of parallel broken lines inFIGURE 5. At the center of the bottom of the pocket the stitches 46extend through two layers of the piece of fabric 8 and the fabric ofskirt 4. However, within the areas at the bottom corners of the pocketthese stitches also extend through the accordiontype pleats, thusholding the pleats together at the bottom of the pocket and tightlyagainst the ski-rt.

Reverse fold 30 is formed closer to fold 22 than it is to fold 28 sothat fold strip 48 is wider than the fold strip 50. Hence, fold 28 withits line of stitches 36 is positioned slightly to the left of fold 22and its line of stitching 40. Similarly, at the right-hand edge of thepocket, the fold strip 52 is wider than the fold strip 54 so that fold32 lies beyond or to the right of fold 24.

The lines of stitches 36 and 38 hold their respective folds tightlytogether, and the line of stitches 46 holds the two side pleatstructures together at the bottom against the skirt. This arrangementcauses the pocket to have a tendency to collapse against the skirt andto present an attractive and trim appearance. This tendency is apparenteven when the pocket contains various objects, although (see FIGURE 4)the side pleats permit the pocket to be completely opened from the topdown to the very bottom of the pocket. Hence, the skirt and the bottomof the pocket form a pocket construction which may be used to containvarious objects such as golf balls, score cards, tees, markers, etc.,and the wearer has ready access to the objects because the pocket opensup completely from the top to the bottom. Nevertheless, the pocket has atendency to constrict itself so that the top tends to close aboveobjects in the bottom. This tendency is augmented by the natural contourof the skirt when it is being worn. Referring to FIGURE 1, the bottom ofthe skirt hangs freely but the shape of the right hip causes the skirtto tend to fit tightly within the vicinity of the pocket. That is, theconvex hip contour to which that portion of the skirt is urged tends tobend the vertical sides of the pocket inwardly so that they tend to besomewhat convex. Hence, particularly when this pocket is positioned asshown in FIGURE 1, advantages of many prior pockets are attained withoutthe disadvantages referred to above and as recognized in the art.

Under some circumstances the reverse folds 30 and 34 are stitched nearthe top by bylines of stitches similar to stitches 36 and 38 at folds 28and 32. Also, it may be desirable at times to provide a lining, and thatcan be done without departing from the spirit of the invention. However,the pocket of FIGURES 1 to 5 has proven to be very satisfactory withdifferent types of fabric without additional stitching and withoutlining. The use of a single layer of fabric identical with the fabric ofthe skirt causes the pocket to react in the same manner as thecoextensive fabric of the skirt. At the same time the pocket iscompletely outside the skirt and it may be completely filled withvarious objects without interfering with the normal attractive fittingof the skirt and without danger of stretching the skirt fabric.

It will be appreciated that many of the advantages of the presentinvention may be attained with this pocket upon garments other thanskirts, and the pockets positioned elsewhere upon the body of thewearer. Also, the pocket may be used for other purposes than for golfattire, as is intended for the pocket of the illustrative embodiment. Awaterproof liner may be provided when appropriate.

I claim:

1. In a garment pocket positioned upon a substantially vertical outerwall of a garment, a substantially rectangular outer pocket structurecomprising an outer pocket wall and two side wall structures, said outerpocket wall being substantially parallel with the coextensive portion ofthe garment, said side wall structures being substantially parallel andeach being formed by two parallel strip portions which areinterconnected by a fold whereby they may lie flat against each other,said outer pocket wall having its side edge portions coextensive withand lying flat against one of said parallel strip portions of each ofsaid side wall structures, one row of stitches at each of the respectiveside edges of said outer pocket wall each of which extends through theedge of said outer pocket wall and the said parallel strip portionagainst which it lies whereby the respective edges of the said parallelstrip portions are held tightly in parallel relationship with the edgesof said outer pocket wall, means attaching each of said side wallstructures to the outer surface of the garment along lines which aresubstantially vertical, and a row of stitches extending through thegarment wall, the outer pocket wall, and the two parallel strip portionson each side of the pocket and attaching said outer pocket wall and saidside wall structures together and to the garment wall along a continuousline extending between the vertical edges of said outer pocket wall andholding the bottom of said outer pocket wall against the lower ends ofsaid parallel strip portions and the garment wall.

2. A garment pocket structure as described in claim 1 wherein saidgarment is a skirt and said outer pocket structure is positioned uponthe rear of the skirt in the vicinity of the upper portion of the hip ofthe wearer whereby the skirt portion which is coextensive with thepocket structure tends to be convex and provides a relatively firm innerwall for the pocket.

3. The structure as described in claim 1 wherein said one of saidparallel strip portions of each of said side wall structures is widerthan the respective other parallel strip portion whereby said two rowsof stitches are positioned further apart than the edges of said otherstrip portions which are attached to the garment.

4. A pocket structure as described in claim I wherein said coextensiveportion of the garment extends along a hip of the wearer and said outerpocket structure is of the same fabric as the garment.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 627,400 6/1899 Douglis 2247780,720 1/1905 Keeley 2250 1,316,526 9/1919 Weiss 2247 2,358,137 9/1944Bard et al 2247 JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

A. GUEST, Assistant Examiner.

1. IN A GARMENT POCKET POSITIONED UPON A SUBSTANTIALLY VERTICAL OUTERWALL OF A GARMENT, A SUBSTANTIALLY RECTANGULAR OUTER POCKET STRUCTURECOMPRISING AN OUTER POCKET WALL AND TWO SIDE WALL STRUCTURES, SAID OUTERPOCKET WALL BEING SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL WITH THE COEXTENSIVE PORTION OFTHE GARMENT, SAID SIDE WALL STRUCTURES BEING SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL ANDEACH BEING FORMED BY TWO PARALLEL STRIP PORTIONS WHICH AREINTERCONNECTED BY A FOLD WHEREBY THEY MAY LIE FLAT AGAINST EACH OTHER,SAID OUTER POCKET WALL HAVING ITS SIDE EDGE PORTION COEXTENSIVE WITH ANDLYING FLAT AGAINST ONE OF SAID PARALLEL STRIP PORTIONS OF EACH OF SAIDSIDE WALL STRUCTURES, ONE ROW OF STITCHES AT EACH OF THE RESPECTIVE SIDEEDGES OF SAID OUTER POCKET WALL EACH OF WHICH EXTENDS THROUGH THE EDGEOF SAID OUTER POCKET WALL AND THE SAID PARALLEL STRIP PORTION AGAINSTWHICH IT LIES WHEREBY THE RESPECTIVE EDGES OF THE SAID PARALLEL STRIPPORTIONS ARE HELD TIGHTLY IN PARALLEL RELATIONSHIP WITH THE EDGES OFSAID OUTER POCKET WALL, MEANS ATTACHING EACH OF SAID SIDE WALLSTRUCTURES TO THE OUTER SURFACE OF THE GARMENT ALONG LINES WHICH ARESUBSTANTIALLY VERTICAL, AND A ROW OF STITCHES EXTENDING THROUGH THEGARMENT WALL, THE OUTER POCKET WALL, AND THE TWO PARALLEL STRIP PORTIONSON EACH SIDE OF THE POCKET AND ATTACHING SAID OUTER POCKET WALL AND SAIDSIDE WALL STRUCTURES TOGETHER AND TO THE GARMENT WALL ALONG A CONTINUOUSLINE EXTENDING BETWEEN THE VERTICAL EDGES OF SAID OUTER POCKET WALL ANDHOLDING THE BOTTOM OF SAID OUTER POCKET WALL AGAINST THE LOWER ENDS OFSAID PARALLEL STRIP PORTIONS AND THE GARMENT WALL.